In providing a floor structure for livestock enclosures, it is desirable to have a system that can be easily assembled and disassembled and readily cleaned of animal waste. It is known in the art to have parallel spaced apart channel members interconnected by spacer clips engaging the members as is shown in Drawsky U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,530, and to have a connector spacer holding the top of the channel members in a spaced relation as is shown in Vickstrom U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,474. Such floor structures are designed to fit over an open pit and have parallel spaced apart channel members which allow animal waste and debris to drop through the floor and into the pit where it can be collected or removed by a stream of water to an accumulator. While very popular and in wide-spread use, such floor structures are not without problems.
One problem is that the heavy weight of the livestock can twist and buckle the floor slats or channel members and accidentally disengage a member. Such a result can weaken the whole floor or cause an animal's leg to be caught between the channel members. Another problem is that most prior art floor structures require part of their assembly from below the floor, which is awkward and undesirable. Still another problem is that the animal waste and debris can pack between the channels, in the channel ends and on other elements in some floor systems. It is thus desirable to provide a rigid floor structure that is not vulnerable to accidental disassembly, can be easily assembled over the pits without special tools and without any need for having to get under the floor during assembly, and will be less subject to animal waste packing in elements of the floor structure.